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objective point of pilgrims, proceeding from Syria and Egypt on their way to the inland city of Mecca, the birthplace of Mohammed and containing the Kaaba, the holy shrines and sacred mosques of Islam. North of Mecca lies Medina, with its Red Sea port of Yambo. Medina, too, has its fine mosques, one of them being erected on the spot where Mohammed died. The capital of Yemen, is Sanaa, its port being Hodeida on the Red Sea. South of Hodeida, near the Strait of Bab-el-Mandeb, is Mocha, the seat of the coffee trade, which is now chiefly exported from Aden and Hodeida. Inland from these two provinces lies the Syrian desert on the north; and on the south, extending for hundreds of miles from Yeman to Oman, are the deserts of El Akhaf and Roba'a-el-Khali.
Surface and Products. Arabia with its extensive tablelands, varied by its vast trackless deserts, has a hot, dry climate, only the coastal plains being fertile and productive. On the latter, browsing on the grassy slopes, are reared donkeys, goats and dromedaries. Besides these, Arabia has many wild animals, the terror of travellers and the menace to the native caravans; among these are tigers, panthers, hyenas and lynxes, besides the less repellant and more useful ostriches and gazelles. Among the natural resources, besides the rice plant, the coffee tree and the date palm, there are many spice and incense shrubs, together with the cotton and maize plants; while gum arabic and precious stones form a considerable portion of the exports.
History. The Arabs claim descent from Ishmael, and have ever been a wild and independent people of nomadic habits and predatory instincts. Their history proper begins with the advent of the religious enthusiast, Mahomet (570-632 A. D.), and with the foundation of the caliphate. Leaving their peninsula, the Arabs and their caliphs founded large and powerful empires in three continents, which flourished until the close of the 15th century, when Arab rule and influence in Europe and Asia Minor came to an end. In the following century the Turks obtained possession of Yemen, and, though for a time they were expelled from that Arabian province, they subsequently settled down in the peninsula and obtained at least nominal possession of its holy cities as well as those in the Hejas province. Since then, the one alloy in the Turkish cup was the rise and dominance for a time of the Wahabis, a religious sect which sought control of the Mohammedan holy cities and shrines, and menaced the Sultan's interests in the country as protector of the sanctuaries. The rebellion—which it was—was attempted to be put down, but it took many campaigns from the years 1811 to 1818 before this could be effected by Ibrahim Pasha, acting under Mehemet Ali, Viceroy of Egypt. The Wahabis, despite Turkish sway, still exert a considerable influence in Arabia.
Arabian Gulf. See Red Sea.
Arabian Literature. See Literature
Arabian Sea, the upper part of the Indian Ocean, situated to the south of Persia and flanked by Arabia on the west and British India on the east. It has two extensions of its waters, northwest by way of the Gulf of Oman into the Persian Gulf, and southwest by way of the Gulf of Aden into the Red Sea. The latter, with its connection with the Mediterranean, through the Gulf of Suez, makes the Arabian Sea a great highway of traffic to Bombay and to Madras and Calcutta in the Bay of Bengal. The eastern inlets of the sea are the Gulfs of Cutch and Cambay in northwestern India, where it receives the waters of the Indus River.
Ara′bi Pasha′ (ä-rä′bē pä-shä′), the leader of the Egyptian rebellion of 1882, was born in Egypt about 1835. His father was a farm laborer. He had no schooling when a boy, but afterward learned to read and write Arabic. He was for 12 years a private soldier in the Egyptian army, then rose to be colonel, minister of war and pasha. Previous to his day a great deal of money had been borrowed, and the Khádive had promised all Egypt to the bondholders. The people, however, refused to pay the taxes. Hence, England and France interfered, and the Khédive was obliged to fill all positions of trust with foreigners. Arabi now proclaimed to the troops that he was inspired by the prophet to undertake a holy mission, the motto of which was, "Egypt for the Egyptians," and he thus became the leader of a great rebellion. A massacre by his forces at Alexandria soon followed. The English came to the help of the Khédive, and their fleet bombarded and dismantled the forts at Alexandria. The war lasted but a few months, Arabi's army being entirely defeated at Tel-el-Kebir, September 13, 1882, by the English under General (now Viscount) Wolseley. Arabi soon after surrendered, and was condemned to death. His sentence, however, was commuted to exile for life, and he was sent to Ceylon. In 1901 his banishment ceased and he was made a pensioner of the British Crown.
Arachnida. Scorpions, spiders and mites. See Spiders.
Ar′ago (ärȧ′-go), Francois Jean Dominique (born 1786, died 1853). A leading man of science in France during the first half of the 19th century, he was distinguished alike in astronomy and in physics. At the early age of 23, he had acquired a brilliant reputation by three years of strenuous labor and hardship spent in determining the length of the earth's meridian from Dunkirk to Barcelona. In this work he was
